Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Long, Slow Decline of BitTorrent (2017)

plagiarismtoday.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

341–350 of 546 posts

Re: The Long, Slow Decline of BitTorrent (2017)

#341

Post by caf »

gamblor956 wrote: post #286
Shoothe wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see download option on my TV running Android. Is this only for PC? On the other hand video files work seamlessly (there is MX Player for Android TV). Sure, there is extra hassle for getting them in the first place but Netflix still has small library for my family (e.g. has Frozen but not Tangled).

It's only for films or shows produced or distributed by Netflix. The download option doesn't include shows/films that they license.

That's not true, we've downloaded plenty of children's shows for the kids to watch on the train that aren't produced/distributed by Netflix (eg. Octonauts).

Re: The Long, Slow Decline of BitTorrent (2017)

#342

Post by Symbiote »

8draco8 wrote: post #230
phil248 wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Torrenting for me has always been about convenience, not money. I recently wanted to watch a new show called A.P. Bio. It's free on NBC's website. But after struggling through one episode with lags and ads with no volume control, I gave up and just torrented the show. Until they master such exotic technologies as "streaming video" and "volume control" they're going to keep driving people to torrenting. Netflix figure…

The law/studio deals have to change. Netflix offers great movies and they lock it down to certain countries. For example I am big fan of Back To The Future. I can watch may favourite movie every month when I'm in UK but when I am in Poland then no luck. Same goes in other direction. While being in Poland I downloaded via Netflix National Lampoon Animal House to watch on plane. I watched half of it on plane then tried…

The Digital Single Market should improve the situation in the European Union.

Start from https://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/digital_en – I've read something about them solving (or aiming to solve) exactly the situation you describe.

Re: The Long, Slow Decline of BitTorrent (2017)

#343

Post by YawningAngel »

Lewton wrote: post #184
ProfessorLayton wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Netflix seems to be pretty opinionated about subtitles. Try watching Narcos without subs, you can't. "Off" means the Spanish parts are subbed, and switching it to Spanish means the English parts are subbed! Netflix, a Californian company, simply couldn't fathom that some people might understand English and Spanish.

That’s a far far saner interpretation of “off” than the alternative On hbo Nordic, (The Scandinavian hbo go) off means -OFF- and it’s absolutely infuriatingly stupid to expect that I can speak Spanish, or Russian, just because I don’t want Scandinavian subtitles when watching an English movie

I feel like English-speaking product design in general has not caught up with the idea that there is a substantial audience of very competent second language speakers. Most educated Continentals I know have similar complaints.

Re: The Long, Slow Decline of BitTorrent (2017)

#344

Post by Symbiote »

caf wrote: post #335
icebraining wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand what is the profit for movie companies in narrowing down their own market. The movie company sold the rights to show that movie in the UK to some other company instead of Netflix, probably for more money than Netflix offered them. Also, you're paying a fixed monthly fee, and unless you're part of the small minority that travels a lot, you're not likely to drop Netflix over not being able to watch c…

While only a small minority might travel (across country borders) a lot in the US, I imagine in Europe it's a much higher proportion of the population that regularly travels to other countries.

There are regions where people commute daily over the border, and even more where people commute weekly.

e.g. I have a colleague who lives in Malmö (Sweden) and commutes daily to Copenhagen (Denmark). Lots of people travel into Luxembourg every day.

When I lived in the UK, the director's family lived on a pretty island in Spain, and he went every Friday for the weekend. Not exactly good for his CO₂ emissions, but people do this kind of thing.

Re: The Long, Slow Decline of BitTorrent (2017)

#345

Post by wang_li »

onli wrote: post #261
wang_li wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where are they going to get microprocessors and hard drives?

You don't need a trade deal to import stuff.

That's true. Until there are viable desktop and server CPU competitors, it'll just mean increased costs for European consumers.

Re: The Long, Slow Decline of BitTorrent (2017)

#346

Post by foxfired »

To me, torrenting has become the new SMS. When Hangout, whatsapp, imo, and whatnot fail, I always resort to SMS which simply work.

I have access to netflix, amazon, and Youtube, but when they fail, in the most ridiculous ways, there is always the guarantee of torrents in the highest possible quality.

Re: The Long, Slow Decline of BitTorrent (2017)

#347

Post by xxs »

Lewton wrote: post #184
ProfessorLayton wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Netflix seems to be pretty opinionated about subtitles. Try watching Narcos without subs, you can't. "Off" means the Spanish parts are subbed, and switching it to Spanish means the English parts are subbed! Netflix, a Californian company, simply couldn't fathom that some people might understand English and Spanish.

That’s a far far saner interpretation of “off” than the alternative On hbo Nordic, (The Scandinavian hbo go) off means -OFF- and it’s absolutely infuriatingly stupid to expect that I can speak Spanish, or Russian, just because I don’t want Scandinavian subtitles when watching an English movie

To help out: in the most of Hollywood movies spoken Russian is usually beyond unnatural with a heavy accent... to a point computer synthesized voice acting would be an improvement.

Re: The Long, Slow Decline of BitTorrent (2017)

#348

Post by lmm »

r00fus wrote: post #191
jedberg wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Netflix usually doesn't offer even English subtitles to an English-speaking movie if you're in a non-English speaking country! Sadly, this has nothing to do with streaming and everything to do with rightsholders (aka "Hollywood"). The rights on the subtitles are held by the company that makes them, are then sold to the company that distributes the movie, which are then resold to regional distributors, separately fr…

> Movie industry licensing and asset packaging are stuck in a time Relevant quote: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair Until they see disruption or increased profits, I don't expect they'll change. I expect them to actually be disrupted before seeing it coming.

It's already happening. Netflix and Amazon have both got into the content-production game, and one of their stated reasons is that when they make their own content they don't have to deal with region-specific licensing issues.

Re: The Long, Slow Decline of BitTorrent (2017)

#349

Post by AlexandrB »

MarkMc wrote: post #315
khedoros1 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Problems: - Company hires a bunch of artists to make something, pays them one time, keeps gathering checks decades after the artists are dead, and even longer after they're getting any payment for the work. - Artist collects money from their work, dies, and the estate continues collecting for decades. The purpose of copyright should be to encourage artists to create works for the enrichment of society as a whole, by…

The time limit on copyright seems to be just an inefficient form of taxation. If Disney keeps copyright of Snow White the government can tax Disney's extra profit to pay for cancer research. Isn't that more socially useful than giving everyone the right to watch Snow White on YouTube for free?

> Isn't that more socially useful than giving everyone the right to watch Snow White on YouTube for free?

Why stop there. Wouldn't it be ever more socially useful to hire vandals to break windows and graffiti houses so the government can collect the taxes on the repairs. See also: war.

Just because something generates economic activity, doesn't mean it's a net benefit to society.

Re: The Long, Slow Decline of BitTorrent (2017)

#350

Post by RobertoG »

phil248 wrote: post #205
jimmies wrote: post #62

I can't read the article because the website is down. But I have something to say about torrenting movies. Late last year, my old parents who don't speak English came to visit me for a couple of months in the US. I'm just a graduate student with a limited budget, and my mom is car sick so we couldn't go out every night. I didn't want them to waste time on Facebook after dinner until we went to bed, so I had to think…

Torrenting for me has always been about convenience, not money. I recently wanted to watch a new show called A.P. Bio. It's free on NBC's website. But after struggling through one episode with lags and ads with no volume control, I gave up and just torrented the show. Until they master such exotic technologies as "streaming video" and "volume control" they're going to keep driving people to torrenting. Netflix figure…

You made me curious about the show, so I went to the NBC page.

It says: "Sorry, this video is not available from your location."

Post reply on HN